National Mobile Television to roll out first of two new HD trucks

National Mobile Television’s new high-definition vehicle DX7, soon to be redubbed HD7, will hit the road this month.

The HD7 will be used this month for the NBA Finals, and HD8 will rollout in August.

The company also plans to bring three other new HD trucks online in 2005, bringing the total number of NMT high-definition trucks to 10 out of an existing fleet of 47 mobile production trucks.

NMT owns and operates one of the largest fleets of HDTV mobile units in the United States and currently has contracts to provide HD facilities to ABC Sports, ESPN, MSG, NESN and iN DEMAND.

The first two new trucks will be used for FOX Sports' NFL games and other HD events during the rest of the year. NMT has selected its subsidiary Venue Services Group (VSG) to design and construct the two HD mobile units (HD7 and HD8).

HD7 will be used this month for the NBA Finals, and HD8 will rollout in August. The 53-inch expandos will feature Thomson Grass Valley Kalypso production switchers and LDK 6000 mkII WorldCam multiformat HD cameras, Canon 86:1 and 100:1 lenses, SSL MT+ digital audio consoles, up to 24 channels of networkable replay, and Thomson Grass Valley Trinix routers (256X256 SD and 160X128 HD). The company has also expanded its use of Pinnacle FXDeko II graphics systems in response to increased demand from broadcasters who are standardizing on Pinnacle Deko systems for major sporting events.